User interface

The Nokia C2-01 is yet a S40 6th edition device. The user interface is very basic and easy to use. No need to spend hours with the user manual or digging through the menus without a clue. It’s simple and intuitive: everything is pretty much where it should be.

The Active standby is the trademark homescreen layout. If you’ve ever used a Nokia device you should be familiar with it by now. It divides the screen into tiles that can be scrolled with the D-pad and edited as users see fit. They can be rearranged but the default layout is the most logical. The General Indicators tile is on top, featuring date, time and missed events.

The S40 Homescreen • Homescreen options

The second one is Radio and Media, and the next one is dedicated to email.

Active standby options • Re-ordering the tiles • Tile options

The bottom section of the homescreen is the Shortcut bar. It holds user-configurable shortcuts to favorite functions. The default selection features Facebook, camera, Messaging and Ovi store.

A handy feature is that pressing the end key while the keypad is locked, displays a lockscreen showing the time and date.

The main menu has the usual optional layouts: Grid, Grid with labels, List and Tabbed.

The main menu • Menu options • List view

The major complaint with S40 handsets is they don’t have multitasking. Another thing to consider is the lack of smart dialing. Some of the competing feature phones have had these features for a long time.

No-frills Phonebook

The phonebook of the Nokia C2-01 will store up to 2000 contacts, which isn’t as good as unlimited storage but is enough for most people. You can set the phonebook to display contacts from the phone memory, SIM memory or both.

Contact view • Contact search

Each contact can be assigned a variety of fields but the phone numbers are limited to 5. First names are separated from last names, eliminating problems, which may occur with synchronization. You can assign ringtones to each contact.

Adding a number • Adding E-mail • Detail selection

Telephony

Nokia isn’t one to skimp on proper telephony, even in the lower end of the market.

The Nokia C2-01 was good at holding onto signal. In-call sound is clear but not too loud even at the highest setting.

Calling Dexter • In-call options

There’s no smart dialing on the C2-01 – not surprising for an S40 device. There’s no voice dialing either, nor the Voice Clarity feature that many other S40 phones have.

We carried out our traditional loudspeaker test to find out the Nokia C2-01 is a solid performer. You won’t have trouble hearing this one even if it’s hidden deep in you pocket or purse. You can find more details about our test, as well as the results of all other tested handsets here.